`Life Needs More Romance, More Enthusiasm'

ELLINGTON — Clattering hooves sounded along the secluded back road as two draft horses pulled the wooden contraption carrying the road-weary traveler.

Bruce Gehly, his body covered in wool and flannel, is heading south.

He's grabbed the reins of his life, so to speak, by leaving his New Hampshire home for a journey to Florida. Pulled by Maxey and Macey, two Shire draft horses, Gehly is fulfilling a lifelong dream while sitting aboard the ``Gypsy Moon,'' the name he's given his four-wheeled 3,600-pound coach.

Gehly, the horses and his self-sufficient coach could be seen Thursday negotiating some of Ellington's most winding roads on his way through Connecticut. A road-paving project on Route 140 forced Gehly to detour his trip but that gave him the chance to make more friends.

He calls himself a gypsy at heart who's also a promoter. His book of poetry, which he sells from the coach, supports his trip.

``I'm promoting my book of poetry, romance, the arts -- all things that deal with life,'' said Gehly, 39, as the braided hairs of his golden blond goatee waved softly in the wind. ``Life needs more romance, more enthusiasm.

``Otherwise you're not living, you're a bump on the log.''

Gehly departed from his home in Ossipee, N.H., a quiet village on the eastern side of the state, a few weeks ago. Today's destination is a family in Bloomfield.

A federal employee who assessed disaster damage for most of his adult life, Gehly believed his time was running out to make the trip. So three years ago, he began building the Gypsy Moon. The coach consists of a bed, a tiny couch, closet, wood stove and a port-a-potty that he's used once.

The bed's gotten little use, too. He's spent only three nights in it.

The other nights? Well, he's made a lot of friends along the way. Many of the people who have seen his rig ambling down the road stop to chat. Before Gehly realizes what's happened, he gets invited for dinner and the night.

One of his prized items is a notebook filled with names and words of support. Each person he meets is asked to write in the book.

Some may wonder what type of person lets a stranger into their home. Dave Smith, Tolland's director of development, is one of those people.

Smith, who lives in Stafford, was at the local post office Wednesday when he saw the strange sight of Gehly passing through. Smith went home and grabbed his wife, Aurise, who is a horse lover, and their 7- year-old son, and returned to take pictures. After chatting with Gehly, they invited him in.

``If he took anything from me, how far is he going to get in a wagon pulled by horses?'' Smith said. ``But he wasn't that type of guy, anyway.''

Gehly struggles to explain his trip, other than to say it's a dream. But an excerpt from one of his poems, ``The Sounds of Wagons,'' might help.